First ever Feature Article

Publication date:
10 February 2015

James Suter, Derek Groen and Peter Coveney have published a paper - the first ever Feature Article - in Advanced Materials on "Chemically specific multiscale modeling of clay-polymer nanocomposites reveals intercalation dynamics, tactoid self-assembly and emergent materials properties". You can read more about the article here. The paper features on the front cover of Volume 27, Issue 6 of Advanced Materials.

RSC PCCP Hot Article: Perspective on Bioglass Simulations

Electrical Control of Single Atom Magnets

Publication date:
6 February 2014

The energy needed to change the magnetic orientation of a single atom – which determines its magnetic stability and therefore its usefulness in a variety of future device applications – can be modified by varying the atom’s electrical coupling to nearby metals.

Lithium and oxygen adsorption at MnO2 (110) surface

Publication date:
26 November 2013

The adsorption and co-adsorption of lithium and oxygen at the surface of rutile-like manganese dioxide (β-MnO2), which are important in the context of Li–air batteries, are investigated using density functional theory. In the absence of lithium, the most stable surface of β-MnO2, the (110), adsorbs oxygen in the form of peroxo groups bridging between two manganese cations. Conversely, in the absence of excess oxygen, lithium atoms adsorb on the (110) surface at two different sites, which are both tri-coordinated to surface oxygen anions, and the adsorption always involves the transfer of one electron from the adatom to one of the five-coordinated manganese cations at the surface, creating (formally) Li+ and Mn3+ species. The co-adsorption of lithium and oxygen leads to the formation of a surface oxide, involving the dissociation of the O2 molecule, where the O adatoms saturate the coordination of surface Mn cations and also bind to the Li adatoms. This process is energetically more favourable than the formation of gas-phase lithium peroxide (Li2O2) monomers, but less favourable than the formation of Li2O2 bulk. These results suggest that the presence of β-MnO2 in the cathode of a non-aqueous Li–O2 battery lowers the energy for the initial reduction of oxygen during cell discharge.

Designer Piercings: New membrane pores with DNA nanotechnology

Publication date:
6 November 2013

5 November 2013

The DNA nanopore (in blue) is a tube formed of folded strands of DNA. The porphyrin anchors, in red, anchor it securely between the two layers of the cell membrane (in grey), which is shown in cross-section.

Activation of Carbon Dioxide over Zinc Oxide by Localised Electrons

ACS Present Department with John William Draper medal

Publication date:
4 September 2012

John
William Draper – When
the College opened in 1828, the Professor of Chemistry who was
appointed was Edward Turner. One of his students was John William Draper
who later emigrated to the United States and
became professor of chemistry at New York University. He had a
distinguished career, particularly in the new field of photography. He
was the first to photograph the moon (1840) and the Great Orion Galaxy
(1880), and he is known as the first astrophotographer.